The Efficiency of Zakat Distribution in
Helping Reducing Poverty Issues among Muslim Society
Nurulsidah Binti Ibrahim
International Islamic University Malaysia

Abstract

This paper discovers five published articles that report on results from research conducted on poverty issues and Zakat distribution and management in Malaysia. The articles, however, vary in their opinion about the efficiency of the Zakat distribution in reducing the poverty issues. This paper discusses the meaning of poverty from different scholar and the factors that causes the poverty issues arise. The purpose of this paper is to identify the relationship between poverty issues with Zakat management in Malaysia, whether the Zakat distribution become the main reasons why the poverty issues still exist among Muslim society. In conducting this research, 10 respondents have been selected consist of students and staffs of International Islamic University Malaysia. The research sought to use quantitative methods to gather the relevant data by set up a set of questionnaire consist of fifteen close ended-questions. The outcome of the research addresses the factors that contribute to the existing of poverty issues besides of the lack of Zakat distribution and management.

The Efficiency of Zakat Distribution in
Helping Reducing Poverty Issues among Muslim Society

Zakat has been mentioned in the Quran, together with Solat, 82 times which means that after Solat, zakat is the most important pillar of Islam. Zakat literally means growth and purification. Technically, Zakat means the purification of wealth by giving a prescribed amount of it to the poor. Zakat is an obligation on the rich and the poor have the right to receive it. In Surah An-Nur, verse 56

In Surah At-Taubah verse 58-60 explained that Allah SWT has given His Guidance on to whom Zakat should be distributed. There are eight groups of recipients of Zakat which are the poor (faqir), the needy (miskin), Zakat collectors (amil), newly converted Muslims (mualaf), slavery (riqob), indebtedness person (gharim), fisabilillah and lastly ibnu sabil (musafir). The fakir and miskin are the most priority groups which deserve to get the largest amount of Zakat share.

Poverty is the lack of basic human needs, such as clean water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter, because of the inability to afford them. This is also referred to as absolute poverty or destitution. Relative poverty is the condition of having fewer resources or less income than others within a society or country, or compared to worldwide averages. About 1.7 billion people live in absolute poverty; before the industrial revolution, poverty had mostly been the norm.

Statement of Problem

Zakat is one of the ways to reduce the poverty among the Muslim society. However, there is still a poor and needy person surrounding us and the numbers of them are not declining. Therefore, the purpose of the research is to determine how well the Zakat is being distributed among Muslim society. The respondents of the research will be the staff and students of International Islamic University Malaysia. Even though the priority in distributed the Zakat goes to poor and needy person, unfortunately they do not get it. Why this problem is still occurring? And what are the views of the respondents about the distribution of Zakat in Malaysia?

Research questions

1.What is the level of awareness about the poverty issues among the Muslim society?

2.What is the opinion about the quality of current Zakat management especially in the distribution of Zakat?

Objectives

The objective of this research is to find out the reasons why the poverty issues among Muslim society still happen. The other objective is to identify the relationship between...

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